Gayton McKenzie thrashes Geordin Hill-Lewis

Gayton McKenzie’s Patriotic Alliance (PA) continues to generate strong support, outperforming Geordin Hill-Lewis’s Democratic Alliance (DA) in by-elections.

Wayne Sussman, a prominent South African independent elections analyst and political commentator, said that there are many encouraging results for the PA.

He cited a significant by-election result in the Swartland municipality, specifically Westbank, near Malmesbury.

The area was historically a DA stronghold. However, the PA successfully held and aggressively grew its majority in the neighbourhood.

The PA increased its support in Westbank from 40% to 53%, which is significantly higher than the DA’s 42%.

The standout result of this by-election was that the PA successfully generated enthusiasm and increased voter turnout.

“In the PA stronghold of Indoor Sports Centre, 62% of voters showed up, versus 48% in the 2024 by-election,” he said.

“Across rural Western Cape towns, Gayton McKenzie’s PA continues to march upward, weakening both the DA and the ANC,” he said.

Over the last few months, the PA has consistently taken votes from the DA in its traditional electoral strongholds.

In Cloetesville, Stellenbosch, the PA secured one of its most significant breakthroughs by snatching a key seat from the DA.

The April 2026 by-election was triggered after the sitting DA ward councillor, Elsabe Vermeulen, defected to the PA and recontested the seat under her new party banner.

Earlier this year, the PA achieved back-to-back victories over the DA in George by-elections in traditional DA strongholds.

This consolidation of the peri-urban vote solidified the PA as the region’s primary challenger to the DA.